26 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



they can hardly be separated. And 

 hence they are called anthropomorphic, 

 or, as Mr. Spencer prefers to call them, 

 "anthropocentric." This close associa- 

 tion this characteristic union is the 

 very thing which Mr. Spencer dislikes. 

 Yet the earnest endeavours of Mr. 

 Spencer to get out of himself to elimi- 

 nate every conception which is " anthro- 

 pocentric" have very naturally come 

 to grief. " Survival " ? Does not this 

 word derive its meaning from our own 

 conceptions of life and death ? Away 

 with it, then. What has a true philo- 

 sopher to do with such conceptions? 

 Why will they intrude their noxious 

 presence into the purified ideas of a 

 mind seeking to be freed from all 

 anthropocentric contamination ? And 

 then that other word "fittest," does it 

 not still more clearly belong to the 

 rejected concepts ? Does it not smell 



